Whether your theatrical vice is musicals, comedy, horror or crazy dancing London will have it all. Today on Theatrical Thursday we look at the musical stage adaptation of the children’s picture book The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson. Read to countless young children in their masses, The Gruffalo is one of Britains most loved storybooks, somewhere between Where The Wild Things Are and The Adventures of Winnie The Pooh, many of us may have read The Gruffalo to our children and are now reading it to grandchildren.
Children’s stories, beloved stories, evoke a special emotional bond with the reader. Be they parent or child, nobody can quite forget the first story you had to learn inside out. The Gruffalo is a heart-warming tale written in rhyming couplets aged at readers aged three to seven.
It follows the comical story of the little mouse, who takes a walk through the woods and uses his wits to scare away bigger animals that want to do him harm by describing the fearsome Gruffalo to them. The sly mouse believes himself to be smarter than the other animals, because a Gruffalo was an animal of his own invention.
However the story takes an unexpected twist when the mouse himself meets with the mythical Gruffalo, who is just as fearsome as described. The mouse, ever cunning, convinces the Gruffalo to follow him in the forest to prove that he – the mouse – is in fact the scariest creature in the woods.
The picture book easily translates from the page to the stage, as Donaldson’s characters are brought to life through song and dance. The rhyming couplets work fantastically, blending spoken verse and song effortlessly, and each individual character is given their own level of depth and emotion. The owl for example, becomes an eccentric old, forgetful owl, or the snake becomes a party mad animal that crazily shakes maracas at the mouse.
Especially great for younger kids, this show is engaging, colourful and perfectly rounded, with plenty to see for all the family. Prices for tickets are ranged at anywhere between £15 and £18 not including booking fees, but certain sites will offer a family or a group discount. Or convince your local school to make a trip of it and get the whole class involved.
The Gruffalo is on show at the Lyric Theatre in London from 20th November 2013 – 12th January 2014. For excellent rates on coaches to London during term times, why not use Coach Hire UK Europe?
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